| Abstract: | The clinical and pathological features of 54 Chi-
nese patients with IgA nephropathy are reviewed.
The diagnosis of IgA nephropathy is based on im
munofluorescent staining that shows predominant
mesangial IgA deposition in the absence of systemic
diseases. The results indicate that in Chinese IgA
nephropathy is a disease of young adults. The peak
incidence is in the 20 t0 29 years old group. Pro.
teinuria is the most common mode of clinical presen
tation which is asymptomatic in 23 patients (42.6To)
and in the nephrotic range in 7 patients (13%).
Microscopic hematuria is also frequently found but
only 9 patients (16.7%) present with gross hematuria.
In addition, 4 patients are in renal failure at the time
of diagnosis. The histopathology of IgA nephropathy
is not essentially different from other idiopathic
forms of glomerulonephritis. The glomerular lesions
show features of focal proliferative change (50%),
diffuse proliferative change (20.4%), focal or diffuse
sclerosis (16.7%) and minimal glomerular lesions
(13%). Membranous and membranoproliferative
glomerular lesions'are not encountered. With im
munofluorescenee, all cases show diffuse mesangial
staining of IgA. With electron nucroscopy, the most
characteristic feature is the presence of electron dense
deposits in the glomerular mesangium. Three types
of mesangial cells are identified and peripheral glo.
merular capillary wall abnormalities are seen in 30%
of the cases. |
